O pinion
Going Beyond So ‘Never Again’ Rings True
BY RABBI AKIVA POLLACK
NEVER AGAIN?
“Did I really see that?”
That was the thought going
through my head as I called
the police to report someone
relieving himself on the holy
walls of my synagogue.

“Don’t you think you are
overreacting?” I momentarily
challenged myself.

Absolutely not! The syna-
gogue is the sanctuary we come
to in order to connect with our
better selves. The climax of our
daily supplications is called
the Amidah. According to the
Talmud (Brachos 10b), we pray
the Amidah prayer with our
feet together.

This is based on Ezekiel’s
opening prophecy. He shares
with us a vision of the heavenly
courts, describing the feet of
the angels as “their feet were a
straight foot” (Ezekiel Ch. 1, V.

8). By emulating the angels, we
are elevating the spiritual parts
of our beings. The synagogue is
the place where humans act as
celestial beings. Yet this ghastly
individual used this sanctuary
as his personal restroom.

The police were called, and
the security camera footage
was sent to the media. That’s
when the despicable history of
the vandal was exposed.

Sheidali Dzhalilov, the per-
petrator of this repulsive act,
had written on his Facebook
page some extremely hateful
and anti-Semitic statements.

Specifically, he had com-
mented on a video from a
Palestinian channel that “this
video makes me wanna kill
every Jew out there, finish what
Hitler couldn’t.”
urinated on our hallowed
walls, I was watching on the
screen as he raised his middle
finger at the security cameras. I
stared in shock as he disgraced
a house of G-d. I was at a loss
as to what to do. Should I cower
in my office and call the police?
Should I chase after him and
scream? In the end, I did call
the police, but I did so not out
of fear but out of responsibility.

ized. Apparently it happened
“again.” So what do we do? Yes, the
judge sentenced the defendant
to some jail time. Two months
to be exact. Truthfully, though,
that doesn’t solve the issue. Not
due to its briefness — I actu-
ally thought it was fair — but
because punishing the perpe-
trator won’t restore dignity to
our house of G-d. Teaching a
Are you someone who never joined a synagogue? Start going once a year
on Yom Kippur. Do you come every Shabbat but step out when the rabbi
starts his speech? Stick around; maybe you’ll learn something.

Dzhalilov was eventually
caught and pled guilty to eth-
nic intimidation, desecration
of a house of worship and insti-
tutional vandalism.

As a grandchild of Holocaust
survivors, it is difficult to express
the hurt I felt when I read the
appalling Facebook post for
the first time. I felt a gnawing
pain as I contemplated someone
finishing what Hitler couldn’t.

Unfortunately, anti-Semitic
posts are not uncommon, but
for those words to be translated
into action at our very steps is a
terrifying thought.

On the night Dzhalilov
There is a phrase that
became very popular after the
Holocaust. The phrase was
“never again.” Apparently
“never” is not quite as long as
we thought.

The Jewish people are resil-
ient. Three-thousand years of
Jewish history has been 3,000
years fraught with persecution
and expulsion. Unfortunately,
we lost millions along the way
but somehow we overcame.

The Holocaust began with
a night called Kristallnacht
or “The Night of Broken
Glass,” when synagogues
were desecrated and vandal-
lesson won’t reverse the reality
that our synagogue was used as
someone’s toilet.

The only way to restore the
dignity that befits our syna-
gogues is by taking the ini-
tiative. I am not referring to
marches on Washington nor
am I advocating picking up
signs and taking to the street. I
am asserting that change starts
from within. I am stating that
we must start respecting our
synagogues in the way they
deserve to be respected.

The sad truth is that many
synagogues are almost vacant
on most weeks. High Holiday
attendance is diminishing by
the year. According to the Pew
Research Centers Religious
Landscape Study, in 2007, 39
percent of Jews attended syn-
agogue weekly and 27 percent
seldom or never attended. In
2014, 36 percent attended syn-
agogue weekly and 30 percent
seldom to never attended.

It’s time to take a stand. Are
you someone who never joined
a synagogue? Start going once
a year on Yom Kippur. Do you
come every Shabbat but step
out when the rabbi starts his
speech? Stick around; maybe
you’ll learn something.

Of course, we need to send
Dzhalilov and all anti-Semites
a loud and clear message. In
no way do I mean to blame the
Jewish people for anti-Semi-
tism, but how can we expect
others to respect our places of
worship when we barely even
show up? No one is going to
listen unless we have a seri-
ous heart-to-heart discussion
within our own communities.

Never again means never
again. l
Rabbi Akiva Pollack is the
executive director of the Russian
American Jewish Experience
(RAJE) at Congregation Beth
Solomon. Maintain Respect for the ‘Blue Slip’
ELEANOR LEVIE AND LYNNE JACOBS
KAVOD: HEBREW for respect,
honor, weightiness. No matter
what kind of Jew you are, a pri-
ority is undoubtedly respect for
yourself and for others — even
those holding different points
of view. And there’s a symbol
of kavod in the U.S. Senate
that’s not well known but long-
held: a single sheet of light blue
paper called the “blue slip.”
For more than 100 years, the
Senate Judiciary Committee
has extended the courtesy of
the blue slip. As tradition has
it, returning a negative evalu-
16 MARCH 14, 2019
ation (printed on blue paper)
or withholding the form alto-
gether allows a senator to seri-
ously slow or halt a nomination
to the district or circuit courts
of appeal of his or her own
state. Using this aspect of the
constitutional power of advise
and consent, each senator can
help make our federal judiciary
more fair, more diverse and
more mainstream.

Never have we needed the
respectful civility of the Senate
more, especially its responsi-
bility for checks and balances
on the executive and judi-
cial branches of government.

Last year, Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Grassley
let slip the tradition of the blue
slip. Taking over the chairman-
ship this year, Lindsay Graham
has also given a pass to nomi-
nees despite home-state sena-
tors finding them unqualified,
inexperienced or unfit.

The first circuit court judge
to be confirmed in more than
80 years without blue slip
approval was David Stras for
the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the 8th Circuit in January 2018.

On Feb. 26 of this year,
for the first time in 100 years,
a nominee without blue slip
JEWISH EXPONENT
approval of either home state
senator was confirmed to a seat
on the United States Court of
Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Washington senators Patty
Murray and Maria Cantwell
were alarmed that Eric D.

Miller had repeatedly chal-
lenged tribal sovereignty, lands
and religious freedom.

Murray also objected to the
vetting process, or lack thereof:
“Not only did Republicans
schedule this nominee’s confir-
mation hearing during a recess
period when just two senators
— both Republicans — were
able to attend, but the hearing
included less than five min-
utes of questioning,” she stated,
adding, “less questioning for
a lifetime appointment than
most students face for a book
report in school.”
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown
did not return blue slips for
Eric Murphy and Chad Readler,
writing, “I cannot support
nominees who have actively
worked to strip Ohioans of their
rights. Special interests already
have armies of lobbyists and
lawyers on their side; they don’t
need judges in their pockets.”
See Respect, Page 18
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM